Stolen medical data from 500,000 UK volunteers advertised for sale on a Chinese website


Health information belonging to 500,000 people in the United Kingdom has been stolen and offered for sale on the Chinese website Alibaba, the UK’s technology minister Ian Murray has confirmed.

The medical data comes from participants of UK Biobank, the world’s most comprehensive dataset of biological, health, and lifestyle information, compiled from volunteers and used by scientists across the world for research. Murray said that on Monday, 20 April, the organisation informed the government that they had identified its data being advertised for sale by several sellers on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms in China.

Read more…
Source: Yahoo News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Global investors lose billions to cyber attacks, report says

    April 12, 2017

    Cyber security attacks have wiped at least $52.4 billion (42 billion pounds) off the value of shares in recent years, according to a report published Wednesday. The study by cyber security consultant CGI and Oxford Economics found that a “significant connection between a severe cyber breach and a company’s share price performance” meant that share prices ...

  • Autonomous car cyber security consortium awarded funding

    April 11, 2017

    An autonomous car cyber security group will receive government funding as part of a plan to make the UK a hub for the development of self-driving cars, it has been announced. The 5*Stars consortium, which incorporates HORIBA MIRA, Ricardo, Thatcham Research, Roke and Axillium Research, will get grants to develop defences against cyber attacks on autonomous ...

  • Payday lender Wonga admits to data breach

    April 10, 2017

    Payday lender Wonga has advised 270,000 customers of a data breach and offered inconsistent advice about the severity of the incident and how to respond. An “incident FAQ” on the company’s site says “We believe there may have been illegal and unauthorised access to the personal data of some of our customers.” The Reg understands 270,000 ...

  • Airports and nuclear power stations on terror alert as government officials warn of ‘credible’ cyber threat

    April 2, 2017

    Britain’s airports and nuclear power stations have been told to tighten their defences against terrorist attacks in the face of increased threats to electronic security systems. Security services have issued a series of alerts in the past 24 hours, warning that terrorists may have developed ways of bypassing safety checks. Intelligence agencies believe that Islamic State of ...

  • Ex-cyber security chief says Government is ‘using’ Westminster attack to grab unnecessary spying powers

    March 27, 2017

    The Ministry of Defence’s former cyber security chief has accused the Government of trying to “use” the devastating Westminster attack to grab unnecessary and intrusive surveillance powers. Major General Jonathan Shaw said ministers were attempting to “use the moment” to push for security services having more control, despite there being only a weak case for it. Home Secretary Amber Rudd ...

  • Personalized spam campaign targets Germany

    March 20, 2017

    A spam campaign Symantec observed in January 2017 targeting people who live in Germany appears to be, once again, using detailed, real personal information to enhance the believability of the messages. Victims who open the message attachments are likely to have their Windows computers infected with malware that steals banking information. First seen in the UK Symantec ...